^ On
a 29 February:2004 In a corporate
jet airplane that takes off at 06:45, Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
[15 Jul 1953~] flees the country abandoning his pledge to serve out his
term (which expires in February 2006) as Haiti's first democratically elected
president in 200 years of independence. The goons that support him have
already lost half the country to the goons that started a rebellion on 05
February in Les Gonaïves, in fighting that caused at least 100 deaths.
Foreign countries, far from responding to Aristide's plea for aid, have
shown themselves clearly in favor of his resignation. Three hours after
Aristide's departure, Chief Supreme Court Justice Boniface Alexandre, a
former jurist in his 60s with a reputation for honesty, declares that he
is taking over as called for by the constitution. But the Haitian constitution
calls for parliament to approve him as President and the legislature has
not met since early this year when lawmakers' terms expired.
The crisis has been brewing since Aristide's party swept flawed legislative
elections in 2000 and international donors froze millions of dollars in
aid. Opponents also accused him of breaking promises to help the poor, allowing
corruption fueled by drug-trafficking and masterminding attacks on opponents
by armed gangs. It was the second time the former Salesian slum priest (ordained
in 1982, secularized in 1994) fled his country. Aristide was ousted in a
1991 coup, months after he was elected president for the first time. He
was restored to power three years later by U.S. troops. President Bill Clinton
sent 20,000 troops to restore Aristide but insisted he respect a constitutional
term limit and step down in 1995. Aristide chose his successor, René
Preval, but was considered the power behind the scenes until he won a second
term in 2000, in presidential elections marred by a low turnout and an opposition
boycott. 1992 Start of a two-day referendum on independence
in Bosnia. Nearly two-thirds of the electorate casts a vote, almost all
for independence, which is proclaimed on 03 March 1992 by President Izetbegovic.

^1988
AT&T's UNIX continues open to all
AT&T announces that it will continue to make UNIX available to all
computer makers. Several major computer companies had expressed concern
over the agreement between AT&T and Sun Microsystems that gave Sun
early information about future versions of UNIX, but AT&T affirmed
that the company would not play favorites with the widely used operating
system. To help ensure that UNIX stayed open, AT&T struck an agreement
with Motorola to develop special extensions making it easier to port
UNIX programs from one company's machine to another.

^1988
Lotus Notes precursor announced.
Lotus challenged Microsoft's SQL server with a new database system
of its own. The new product, designed to make it easy for groups of
personal computers to share data among themselves, evolved into Lotus
Notes, a highly successful business system allowing workgroups to
collaborate on documents.

1988 Nazi document implicates Waldheim in WWII deportations
1988 NYC Mayor Koch calls Reagan a "WIMP" in the
war on drugs 1984 Pierre Elliott Trudeau [18 Oct
1919 – 28 Sep 2000], prime minister of Canada (Apr 1968 – May 1979;
03 Mar 1980 – Jun 1984), resigns from the leadership of the Liberal Party,
but he remains in office until John Turner is chosen to succeed him at the
party leadership convention in June 1984.1968 first
pulsar discovered (CP 1919 by Jocelyn
Burnell at Cambridge)

^
1968Report blames
racism for riots. The
Kerner Commission (President's National Advisory Committee on Civil
Disorders) releases its report, condemning racism as the primary cause
of the recent surge of riots. The report calls for expanded aid to
African-American communities in order to prevent further racial violence
and polarization. The report identifies more than 150 riots or major
disorders between 1965 and 1968. Its statistics for 1967 alone include
eighty-three people killed and 1800 injured  the majority of
them African Americans  and property valued at more than $100
million damaged or destroyed.

1964 LBJ reveals US secretly developed the A-11 jet fighter. 1956 Islamic Republic established in Pakistan. 1956 President Eisenhower announces he would seek a 2nd
term. 1944 5 leaders of Indonesia Communist Party
sentenced to death. 1944 World War II: US troops
invade Los Negros in the Admiralty Islands.1940
45 U boats sunk this month (170'000 tons) 1936
FDR signs 2nd neutrality act.1936 In Tokyo is put
down the revolt started on 26 February 1936 by a regiment about to leave
for Manchuria. The ringleaders were quickly arrested and executed. On 26
February 1936, several outstanding statesmen (including retired Admiral
Saito Makoto) were murdered; Prime Minister Okada Keisuke escaped when the
assassins mistakenly shot his brother-in-law. For more than three days the
rebel units held much of downtown Tokyo. 1932 Failed
coup attempt by fascist Lapua Movement in Finland

^1916
Minimum working age raised in SC.
In South Carolina, the minimum age allowed by law for workers in mills,
factories, and mines was raised from twelve to fourteen years old.
Before the industrial revolution, children would have been apprenticed
or worked as part of a family business. With the advent of the industrial
revolution, children were instead forced into in slave-like working
conditions in factories and mills. Child labor became a recognized
social problem in the US, initially in the eastern and midwestern
states following the Civil War, and in the South, which lagged in
industrialization, in the early twentieth century. Though child labor
was largely curtailed in the US and European countries by the mid-twentieth
century, it is estimated that today child labor makes up between 2
percent and 10 percent of the workforce in Asia, Africa, Latin America,
and the Middle East. 1944 Black Market Makes Good Over one billion
dollars in estimated profit was made by American black marketeers
during 1943, announced national Office of Price Administration director
Chester Bowles. Black market goods are bought or sold at prices or
in amounts above the legal limits set by the government in times of
shortage or conservation. Rationing and fixed prices during World
War II led to a rise in black market sales in the US, especially with
meat, sugar, tires, and gasoline. While rationing ended with the war,
scarcities in automobiles and building supplies kept the black market
going strong for years to follow. 1960 Publishing Ménage à Trois The
publishing firm of Holt, Rinehart, & Winston came to be when stockholders
from Henry Holt & Co., Inc. agreed to merge with two other firms,
Rinehart & Co., Inc., and the John C. Winston Company. A division
now of Harcourt Brace & Co., Holt, Rinehart, & Winston are publishers
of instructional materials, including school textbooks.

1908 Dutch scientists produce solid helium
1904 Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7 man committee to study Panama
Canal 1864 George Custer's cavalry fights skirmishes
at Stanardsville and Charlottesville, Virginia during a raid on Albemarle
1868 first British government of Disraeli forms
1856 Hostilities in umteenth (actually 11th) and
next to last Russo-Turkish War, or Crimean War, cease (?). Actually Russia
accepted preliminary peace terms on 18560201, the Congress of Paris worked
out the final settlement from 18560225 to 18560330, when.the resulting Treaty
of Paris was signed, which guaranteed the integrity of Ottoman Turkey and
obliged Russia to surrender southern Bessarabia, at the mouth of the Danube.
1848 Neufchatel declares independence of Switzerland.

^1832
Darwin is delighted by a Brazilian forest He
makes this entry in The
Voyage of the Beagle:BAHIA,
OR SAN SALVADOR. BRAZIL, Feb. 29th.  The day has passed delightfully.
Delight itself, however, is a weak term to express the feelings of a naturalist
who, for the first time, has wandered by himself in a Brazilian forest.
The elegance of the grasses, the novelty of the parasitical plants, the
beauty of the flowers, the glossy green of the foliage, but above all the
general luxuriance of the vegetation, filled me with admiration. A most
paradoxical mixture of sound and silence pervades the shady parts of the
wood. The noise from the insects is so loud, that it may be heard even in
a vessel anchored several hundred yards from the shore; yet within the recesses
of the forest a universal silence appears to reign. To a person fond of
natural history, such a day as this brings with it a deeper pleasure than
he can ever hope to experience again. After wandering about for some hours,
I returned to the landing-place; but, before reaching it, I was overtaken
by a tropical storm. I tried to find shelter under a tree, which was so
thick that it would never have been penetrated by common English rain; but
here, in a couple of minutes, a little torrent flowed down the trunk. It
is to this violence of the rain that we must attribute the verdure at the
bottom of the thickest woods: if the showers were like those of a colder
climate, the greater part would be absorbed or evaporated before it reached
the ground. I will not at present attempt to describe the gaudy scenery
of this noble bay, because, in our homeward voyage, we called here a second
time, and I shall then have occasion to remark on it.
On 27 December 1831, British naturalist Charles
Robert Darwin had set out from Plymouth, England, aboard the HMS Beagle,
on a five-year surveying expedition of the southern Atlantic and Pacific
oceans. Visiting such diverse places as Fernando Noronha island (20 February
1832), Brazil, the Galapagos Islands, and New Zealand, Darwin acquired an
intimate knowledge of the flora, fauna, wildlife, and geology of many lands.
This information proves invaluable in the development of his theory of evolution,
first put forth in his groundbreaking scientific work of 1859, The Origin
of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Darwin's theory of natural
selection argues that species are the result of a gradual biological evolution
of living organisms in which nature encourages, through natural selection,
those species best suited to their environments to propagate future descendants.
The Origin of Species is the first significant work on the theory of evolution,
and is greeted with great interest in the scientific world, although it
is also violently attacked because it contradicts the account of creation
given in the Bible. Nevertheless, the work, unquestionably one of the most
important in the history of science, eventually succeeds in gaining acceptance
from almost all biologists. The
Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of
Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life would be published in England
on 24 November 1859. Darwin's theory of natural selection argues that species
are the result of a gradual biological evolution of living organisms in
which nature encourages, through natural selection, those species best suited
to their environments to propagate future descendants. The
first printing of 1250 copies sells out in a single day. By 1872, it would
have run through six editions, and become one of the most influential books
of modern times. Darwin, the privileged and well-connected son of a successful
English doctor, had been interested in botany and natural sciences since
his boyhood, despite the discouragement of his early teachers. At Cambridge,
he found professors and scientists with similar interests and with their
help began participating in scientific voyages. He traveled around South
America for five years as an unpaid botanist on the HMS Beagle. By the time
Darwin returned, he had developed an outstanding reputation as a field researcher
and scientific writer, based on his many papers and letters dispatched from
South America and the Galapagos Islands, which were read at meetings of
prominent scientific societies in London. Darwin began publishing studies
of zoology and geology as soon as he returned from his voyage. Fearing the
fate of other scientists, like Copernicus and Galileo, who had published
radical scientific theories, Darwin held off publishing his theory of natural
selection for years. He secretly developed his theory during two decades
of surreptitious research following his trip on the Beagle. Meanwhile, he
married and had seven children. He finally published Origin of Species after
another scientist began publishing papers with similar ideas. His book laid
the groundwork for modern botany, cellular biology, and genetics. He died
in 1882. Darwin, who was influenced
by the work of French naturalist Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, and later by
English scientist Alfred Russel Wallace, acquired most of the evidence for
his theory during a five-year surveying expedition aboard the HMS Beagle
during the 1830s. Visiting such diverse places as Brazil, the Galapagos
Islands, and New Zealand, Darwin acquired an intimate knowledge of the flora,
fauna, wildlife, and geology of many lands. This information, along with
his experiments with variation and interbreeding after returning to England,
proved invaluable in the development of his theory of natural selection.
His On
the Origin of Species is the first significant work on the theory
of evolution, and is greeted with great interest in the scientific world,
although it is also violently attacked because it contradicts the account
of creation given in the Bible. Nevertheless, the work, unquestionably one
of the most important in the history of science, eventually succeeds in
gaining acceptance from almost all biologists.
Darwin, born 12 February 1809 the privileged and well-connected son of successful
English doctor Robert Waring Darwin, had been interested in botany and natural
sciences since his boyhood, despite the discouragement of his early teachers.
At Cambridge, he found professors and scientists with similar interests
and with their help began participating in scientific voyages, including
the HMS Beagle's trip. By
the time Darwin returned, he had developed an outstanding reputation as
a field researcher and scientific writer, based on his many papers and letters
dispatched from South America and the Galapagos Islands, which were read
at meetings of prominent scientific societies in London. Darwin began publishing
studies of zoology and geology as soon as he returned from his voyage, while
also secretly working on his radical theory of evolution.
Knowing that scientists who had published radical theories before had been
ostracized or worse, Darwin held off on publishing his theory of natural
selection for nearly two decades. Meanwhile, he married and had seven children.
He finally published On
the Origin of Species after another scientist began publishing
papers with similar ideas. His book laid the groundwork for modern botany,
cellular biology, and genetics. He died on 19 April 1882.
DARWIN ONLINE:

^
1704 Deerfield is razed in
Queen Anne's War Deerfield,
a frontier settlement in western Massachusetts, is attacked by a French
and Amerindian force. Some one hundred men, women, and children are
massacred as the town is burned to the ground. The Deerfield raid
was the bloodiest event of Queen Anne's War, a conflict known as the
second of the French and Indian Wars to US historians.
The frontier conflict, named after
the English monarch at the time, was to France and England a rather
unimportant aspect of the War of the Spanish Succession. To settlers
in North America, however, the rivalry of the two powers in the colonies
was a serious concern, as the fighting meant not only raids by the
French or the British but also the horrors of Indian tribal warfare.
With the signing of the Peace of Utrecht
in 1714, peace returned to the frontier. Thirty years later it would
be broken by the War of Austrian Succession, the third of the French
and Indian Wars.

1692 The Salem Witch Trials began on this Leap Day when
Tituba, the female Indian servant of the Rev. Samuel Parris, and one Sarah
Goode were both arrested and accused of witchcraft.1644
Abel Janszoon Tasman [1603 – 21 Oct 1659] sails from Batavia (now
Jakarta) on a second voyage of exploration towards Australia. Greatest of
the Dutch navigators and explorers, he had discovered not only Tasmania
(on 24 November 1642) which he named Van Diemen's Land, but also New Zealand's
(13 Dec 1642, at South Island, which he named Staten Landt), Tonga (21 Jan
1643), and the Fiji Islands (06 Feb 1643).1504
Columbus uses a lunar eclipse to frighten hostile Jamaican Indians.

^2000
John Charles Price, butchered by his lover Katherine Mary Knight.
On 08 November Knight would be sentenced
to life in prison for skinning her partner. Cruel
and evil, she showed her victim no mercy. On 08 November 2001 Katherine
Knight, who, on 29 February 2000 murdered her de facto - and, in a
nightmarish ritual of death, skinned him, cut off his head and cooked
parts of his body - received no mercy for her horrifying crime. The
46-year-old former abattoir worker now has the dubious distinction
of becoming the first woman in Australia to be jailed for the term
of her natural life. As he imposed the maximum penalty, Justice Barry
O'Keefe's sentence was met with applause from the family of her victim,
John Price. "Katherine Mary
Knight, you have pleaded guilty and been convicted of the murder of
John Charles Price at Aberdeen on or about February 29, 2000," Justice
O'Keefe told the hushed Newcastle, Australia, Supreme Court. "In respect
of your crime, I sentence you to imprisonment for life."
Justice O'Keefe said that the last minutes of Mr Price's life must
have been a time of abject terror. He said all the evidence before
the court indicated they were a time of "utter enjoyment" for Knight.
"She has not expressed any contrition or remorse and if released she
poses a serious threat to the security of society." Justice O'Keefe
said the frenzied stabbing of Mr Price with a butcher's knife was
pre-meditated and fell into the most serious category of murders.
Her deadly intentions were triggered by Mr. Price calling police on
the Sunday before his death following an argument with Knight and
taking out an apprehended violence order against her. The judge said
Knight went to Mr Price's house where they "had pleasurable sexual
intercourse" before Mr Price retired for the night.
"Not only did she plan the murder but she also enjoyed the horrific
acts which followed in its wake as part of a ritual of death and defilement,"
he said. "At no time did the prisoner express any regret for what
she had done or any remorse for having done it," the judge said. "Her
attitude in that regard is consistent with her general approach to
the many acts of violence which she had engaged in against her various
partners, namely 'they deserved it'.". He said these included slashing
the throat of a former partner's eight-week-old puppy in front of
him and smashing the false teeth of another. After he did something
which had displeased her during their six-year relationship, Knight
videotaped a first aid box Mr Price had taken from his employment
and sent the tape to his boss. As a result Mr Price was sacked from
that job. "The prisoner's history of violence together with her flawed
personality cause me to conclude that she is without doubt a very
dangerous person and likely, if released into the community, to commit
further acts of serious violence, including even murder against those
who cross her, particularly males," Justice O'Keefe said.
On 09 November 2001 a woman began a lifelong sentence behind bars,
never to be released, for murdering and skinning her boyfriend in
a cannibal orgy. A court was told former abattoir worker Katherine
Knight stabbed her partner John Price at least 37 times with a butcher's
knife, skinned his body, cooked his head and served him up in dishes
with nameplates for each of his children. Knight, 46, became the first
woman in Australia whose file was marked never to be released from
jail after pleading guilty to butchering 44-year-old Price in his
home in Aberdeen, 200 km north-west of Sydney, on 29 February 2000.
"She is starting her life sentence
in a high security unit of Mulawa jail in western Sydney and this
really does mean life under truth-in-sentencing laws introduced in
1990," a court spokesman said. New South Wales Supreme Court judge
Barry O'Keefe, handing down the sentence, said that Knight, in a new
black night gown, showed Price "no mercy" when she attacked him after
the couple had apparently had sex, according to media reports. Price's
attempt to escape the frenzied attack  planned 48 hours earlier
 culminated with him getting out of the house only to be dragged
back in by Knight. O'Keefe said Knight, who had worked as a meat slicer
in abattoirs, skinned Price with such expertise and a steady hand
that his skin, including that of his head, face, nose, ears, neck,
torso, genital organs, and legs, was removed to form one pelt.
"The excised parts of Mr. Price were
then taken to the kitchen and at some stage, after she peeled and
prepared various vegetables, she cooked Mr. Price's head in a large
pot with a number of vegetables she had prepared so as to produce
a sickening stew," he told the court. "The gruesome steaks were then
arranged on plates together with the vegetables which she had baked
and left as meals for the son and daughter of the deceased accompanied
by vindictive notes." O'Keefe said Knight's evil actions came from
resentment arising out of her rejection by Price after a six-year
relationship, her impending expulsion from his home, and his refusal
to share his assets with her, particularly his house which he wanted
to keep for his children.

Heav'n has no rage like
love to hatred turn'd
Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorn'd.
The saying is from the closing
line of act III of William Congreve's The
Mourning Bride, first produced in 1697. The Mourning
Bride is your usual king-orders-beheading-of-enemy-prince-upon-finding-he-is-secretly-married-to-king's-daughter-b
ut-gets-it-himself-in-a-case-of-mistaken-identity-resulting-in-another-mistaken-identity-with-subse
quent-suicide-by-poisoning-revolution-and-reunion-of-happy-lovers
tragedy. The
first line of the play is another oft-misquote: "Music has
charms to soothe a savage breast."

ALMERIA, the Princess of Granada.
LEONORA, chief Attendant on the Princess.

ALM.
Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.
What then am I? Am I more senseless grown
Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe!
'Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs ...
=========
Vile and ingrate! too late thou shalt repent
The base Injustice thou hast done my Love:
Yes, thou shalt know, spite of thy past Distress,
And all those Ills which thou so long hast mourn'd;
Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd. [Exeunt Omnes. - The End of the Third Act.]

^2000
Kayla Rolland, 6.
She is shot dead by 6-year-old boy (a Black) from the
same first grade, in a Buell Elementary School classroom, Mount Morris
Township, just north of Flint, Michigan..

At
about 10:00, the class of 22 was going to the library. The teacher
was standing in the doorway. The last five children were still in
the classroom, when the boy — who had the .32 semiautomatic pistol
tucked in his pants — pointed it at a pupil. Then he turned toward
Kayla and fired the only bullet in the gun, striking her in the neck.
The children said that the boy had been showing them the gun and threatening
to shoot someone. Why the teacher didn't notice anything has not been
explained.

The mother,
Tamarla Owens, had left the boy and his 8-year-old brother in the
care of her brother in a house where stolen guns were traded for drugs.
Jamelle James, 19, who lived there too, had left the loaded gun under
a blanket, where the boy found it. Charged with involuntary manslaughter,
James would be sentenced on 11 September 2000 to 2 to 15 years in
prison. The boy, considered too young to form criminal intent, would
not be charged with anything.

Dedric
Owens, the father, is in jail since 20 February 2000, awaiting trial
for breaking parole on a home invasion charge.

2000 Edwin Haroldo Ochoa López, and Julio Armando Vásquez Ramirez,
murdered in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. They were environmental workers
with the Guatemalan National Council on Protected Areas (Conap). Ochoa
had investigated allegations of land-grabbing, illegal lumber cutting
and other environmental crimes in the departamentos of Petén and Izabal.
Ochoa’s cases included an Izabal deforestation accusation against retired
Col. Otoniel Ponciano García and two associates. 1996 All 117 passengers and 6 crew members aboard a Peruvian
Faucett Airline Boing 737 which crashes in the Andes as it prepares to
land at Arequipa.

^1980
Yigal Pavlovich “Allon”,
Israeli soldier and politician, born on 10 October 1918 in Palestine.
— He was best known as the architect of the Allon Plan,
a peace initiative that he formulated after Israel captured Arab territory
in the Six-Day War of June 1967. Allon was one of the first commanders
of the Palmach, an elite branch of the Haganah, a Zionist military
organization representing the majority of the Jews in Palestine after
World War I. He was involved in smuggling European Jews into Palestine
in defiance of restrictions placed on immigration by Great Britain,
the region's mandatory power during the period between the world wars.
During World War II he fought as a volunteer alongside British soldiers
against the Vichy French in Lebanon and Syria.
After Israel proclaimed independence on 15 May 1948, the Haganah became
the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and Allon's initial reluctance to
place the Palmach under IDF command earned him the enmity of David
Ben-Gurion [16 Oct 1886 – 01 Dec 1973], the first prime minister
of Israel. As a commander of the Palmach, Allon fought major battles
against the Arabs on various fronts during the first Arab-Israeli
War. Pursuing Egyptian forces from the Negev into Sinai, he captured
many prisoners of war, including Egypt's future president, Gamal Abdel
Nasser [15 Jan 1918 – 28 Sep 1970], then a junior officer.
Allon entered politics in 1955 when
he was elected to the Israeli Knesset (parliament) as representative
of Ahdut ha-'Avoda–Po'ale Tziyyon (“Unity of Labour–Workers of Zion”).
He held important portfolios in the cabinets of Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol
[25 Oct 1895 – 26 Feb 1969], and Golda Meir [03 May 1898 –
08 Dec 1978] and served briefly as acting prime minister in 1969.
Following the 1967 war, as deputy prime minister, he developed a peace
plan that proposed restoring most of the West Bank territory to Jordan
while retaining military settlements along the Jordan River. The plan
was never adopted but spurred the growth of Israeli settlements in
the occupied territories in subsequent decades.
His unexpected death occurs while he is being considered for the leadership
of the Israel Labor Party.

1960 Some 13'000 persons in magnitude 5.7 earthquake
at 23:40 with shallow epicenter at Agadir, Morocco. Some 20'000 persons
are made homeless.1956 Elpidio Quirino, 65, President of Philippines (1949-1953) 1948 27 British soldiers, as Stern gang of Zionist terrorists
bombs Cairo-Haifa train.1924 (11 Feb?) Jean-François Raffaëlli, French
painter, sculptor, and printmaker, born on 20 April 1850.

^1868
Louis I, in Nice, France, king of Bavaria (1825-1848),
born on 25 August 1786 in Strasbourg, France. — He was a
liberal and a German nationalist who rapidly turned conservative after
becoming king. He is best known as an outstanding patron of the arts
who transformed Munich into the artistic center of Germany.
Louis, the well-educated eldest son of King Maximilian I [27 May 1756
– 13 Oct 1825], was a fervent German nationalist as a youth
and served only reluctantly at the headquarters of Napoléon
[15 Aug 1769 – 05 May 1821] in the wars against Prussia and
Russia (1806–1807) and Austria (1809). In Bavaria he came to head
the anti-French party, and at the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) he
unsuccessfully advocated the return of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany.
The liberal Bavarian constitution of 1818 bears his stamp, and he
repeatedly resisted the demands of Klemens Metternich [15 May 1773
– 11 Jun 1859], the Austrian statesman, for basic changes in
that document. In church questions, however, Louis was more conservative,
opposing his father's secularization of monasteries. He played an
active part in the downfall of Bavaria's leading minister, Maximilian
Montgelas [10 Sep 1759 – 14 Jun 1838] (1817), whom he blamed
for these anti-ecclesiastical policies.
Louis's liberal reputation assured him of general acclaim upon his
accession, but he was soon to disappoint his subjects. The king frequently
feuded with the Diet, and after the revolutions of 1830 in Europe
he came to distrust all democratic institutions. The Öttingen-Wallerstein
ministry (1831–1837) was a shift to the right, and the subsequent
government under Karl von Abel (from 1837) steered a strictly reactionary
and clericalist course, restoring many monasteries and proceeding
to erode the liberal constitution.
Culturally, however, Louis's reign was brilliant. An enthusiastic
patron of the arts, he collected the works that formed the nucleus
of Munich's two best-known museums, the Glyptothek and Alte Pinakothek.
His large-scale planning of Munich created the city's present layout
and classic style. He commissioned many representative buildings,
among them the Ludwigskirche, Neue Pinakothek, Propyläen, Siegestor,
Feldherrnhalle, and Odeon. On
the outbreak of the revolutions of 1848, Louis, whose passion for
the dancer Lola Montez [1818 – 17 Jan 1861] had reduced his
popularity even further, abdicated in favor of his son Maximilian
II [28 Nov 1811 – 10 Mar 1864].

1848 Louis-François baron Lejeune, French general,
painter, and lithographer born on 03 February 1775. — Author of Mémoires
du Général Lejeune.  MORE
ON LEJEUNE AT ART 4 FEBRUARY
with links to images.
|1604 John Whitgift, 74, Archbishop of Canterbury (from
1583)

^1528
Patrick Hamilton, 24. He
is burned at the stake, protomartyr of the Scottish Reformation, Scottish
preacher educated in Paris and at Aberdeen University. His Lutheran
sympathies then forced him to flee to Germany. He returned to Scotland
in 1527 and began to preach at Kincavel. He was invited by James Beaton,
Archbishop of Saint Andrews, to attend a conference at Aberdeen. But
in 1528, he was brought to trial on a charge of heresy, found guilty,
and executed. His 'Loci communes', or 'Patrick's Places', setting
forth the doctrine of justification by faith, is included in John
Foxe's "Actes
and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Dayes",
commonly known as "Book of Martyrs.".[I found no such
doctrinal tract in the online edition, but it has the following about
Patrick Hamilton at the beginning of chapter 15]

Like as there
was no place, either of Germany, Italy, or France, wherein there
were not some branches sprung out of that most fruitful root of
Luther;
so likewise was not this isle of Britain without his fruit and
branches. Amongst whom was Patrick Hamilton, a Scotchman born
of high and noble stock, and of the king's blood, of excellent
towardness, twenty-three years of age, called abbot of Ferne.
Coming out of his country with three companions to seek godly
learning, he went to the University of Marburg in Germany, which
university was then newly erected by Philip, Landgrave of Hesse.

During his
residence here, he became intimately acquainted with those eminent
lights of the Gospel, Martin Luther and Philip
Melancthon; from whose writings and doctrines he strongly
attached himself to the Protestant religion.

The archbishop
of St. Andrews (who was a rigid papist) learning of Mr. Hamilton's
proceedings, caused him to be seized, and being brought before
him, after a short examination relative to his religious principles,
he committed him a prisoner to the castle, at the same time ordering
him to be confined in the most loathsome part of the prison.

The next morning
Mr. Hamilton was brought before the bishop, and several others,
for examination, when the principal articles exhibited against
him were, his publicly disapproving of pilgrimages, purgatory,
prayers to saints, for the dead, etc.

These articles
Mr. Hamilton acknowledged to be true, in consequence of which
he was immediately condemned to be burnt; and that his condemnation
might have the greater authority, they caused it to be subscribed
by all those of any note who were present, and to make the number
as considerable as possible, even admitted the subscription of
boys who were sons of the nobility.

So anxious
was this bigoted and persecuting prelate for the destruction of
Mr. Hamilton, that he ordered his sentence to be put in execution
on the afternoon of the very day it was pronounced. He was accordingly
led to the place appointed for the horrid tragedy, and was attended
by a prodigious number of spectators. The greatest part of the
multitude would not believe it was intended he should be put to
death, but that it was only done to frighten him, and thereby
bring him over to embrace the principles of the Romish religion.

When he arrived
at the stake, he kneeled down, and, for some time prayed with
great fervency. After this he was fastened to the stake, and the
fagots placed round him. A quantity of gunpowder having been placed
under his arms was first set on fire which scorched his left hand
and one side of his face, but did no material injury, neither
did it communicate with the fagots. In consequence of this, more
powder and combustible matter were brought, which being set on
fire took effect, and the fagots being kindled, he called out,
with an audible voice: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! How long
shall darkness overwhelm this realm? And how long wilt Thou suffer
the tyranny of these men?"

The fire burning
slow put him to great torment; but he bore it with Christian magnanimity.
What gave him the greatest pain was, the clamor of some wicked
men set on by the friars, who frequently cried, "Turn, thou heretic;
call upon our Lady; say, Salve Regina, etc." To whom he replied,
"Depart from me, and trouble me not, ye messengers of Satan."
One Campbell, a friar, who was the ringleader, still continuing
to interrupt him by opprobrious language; he said to him, "Wicked
man, God forgive thee." After which, being prevented from further
speech by the violence of the smoke, and the rapidity of the flames,
he resigned up his soul into the hands of Him who gave it.

This steadfast
believer in Christ suffered martyrdom in the year 1527.[off
by one year, possibly not the only inaccuracy of this account]

Births
which occurred on a February 29:2004
Sydney Reed and Traci Reed, twin girls born to Marianne Thoms,
52, of Levelland, Texas, mother of their father Shawn Reed, husband of their
genetic mother, Traci Reed, who could not carry a pregnancy because of scarring
in her uterus. Shawn and Traci Reed underwent an in-vitro fertilization
procedure in San Antonio. A physician told them that it would be best to
find a family member to serve as a surrogate mother in order to avoid legal
complications over custody of the children. Marianne Thoms, a pilot, skydiver,
and scuba diver, who previously last gave birth in 1976, says:. "This pregnancy
was much more exciting than those adventures." 1924 David
Beattie British Governor-General of New Zealand.1924
Andrzej Maria Descur, who would be made a cardinal on 25 May 1985.1920 Howard Nemerov (Pulitzer Prize-winning poet: Collected
Works [1978]; 3rd poet laureate of US [1988-1990]).1908 Balthasar
Klossowski de Rola “Balthus”, French count, a painter,
illustrator, and stage designer, who died, 354 days after his 23rd birthday,
on 18 February 2001.  MORE
ON “BALTHUS” AT ART 4 FEBRUARY
with links to images. 1904 Adolph Charles David
Earl Frederick Gerald Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy
Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Hubert
Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorfffvoralternwarengewissenhaftschaferswessenschafewarenwohlgepflegeundsorgfaltigkeitbeschutzenvonangreifendurch-
ihrraubgierigfeindewelchevoralternzwolftausendjahresvorandieerscheinenwanderersteerdemenschderraumschiffgebrauchlichtalsseinursprungvonkraftgestartsein-
langefahrthinzwischensternartigraumaufdersuchenachdiesternwelchegehabtbewohnbarplanetenkreisedrehensichundwohinderneurassevonverstandigmenschlichkeit-
konntefortplanzenundsicherfreuenanlebenslanglichfreudeundruhemitnichteinfurchtvorangreifenvonandererintelligentgeschopfsvonhinzwischensternartigraum
Sr, near Hamburg, Germany; had a given name for every letter in the alphabet,
shortened it to Mr. Wolfe Plus 585, Sr. 1896 Ranchhodji
Morarji Desai [–10 Apr 1995], premier of India (24 Mar
1977 - 15 Jul 1979).1892 Augusta Christine Fells (later
Mrs.) Savage, US sculptor and educator who battled racism
to secure a place for African American women in the art world. She died
on 26 March 1962. 1880 Gotthard railway tunnel between
Switzerland and Italy opens.

^ 1860 Herman Hollerith, inventor of the tabulating
machineHerman
Hollerith worked as a statistician for the US census of 1880,
where he found a pressing need for automated ways to record and process
vast amounts of data. He developed an automated data processing system
that used punch cards, inspired by the cards that French inventor
Joseph Jacquard had developed to program patterns in weaving looms.
Several later electronic computers relied on punch cards for data
entry. After Hollerith's machine won a competition for the most efficient
data processing equipment to be used in the 1890 census, he established
his own company, which later merged with two others to become IBM
in 1924. He died on 17 November 1929.

^
1736
Ann Lee, founder of the Shakers.Ann
Lee [–08 Sep 1784], the founder of the United Society of
Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, a Christian group commonly
known as the Shakers, is born in Manchester, England. In 1770, "Mother"
Ann breaks from the Quakers to establish her own religious movement
based on celibacy, sexual equality, energetic worship, pacifism, and
a communal economy. Four years later, Lee leads her flock to the New
World. By the mid nineteenth century, some 17'000 Shakers would live
in the United States. Today, the Shakers are best known for their
simple yet masterfully designed furniture
and architecture.

^
1468 Alessandro Farnese who would
be electedPope
Paul IIIon 12 October 1534 and die on 10 November
1549. He was the last Renaissance pope and the first pope of the Counter-Reformation.
The worldly Paul
III was a notable patron of the arts and at the same time encouraged
the beginning of the reform movement that was to affect deeply the
Catholic Church in the later 16th century. He called the Council
of Trent in 1545. Alessandro
was the son of Pier Luigi Farnese and Giovannella Gaetani. In service
to the papacy since the 12th century, the Farnese family had extended
its possessionsfrom a stronghold on Lake Bolsena south and westward
to include most of the fiefs between Perugia, Orvieto, Sermoneta,
and the sea. In 1417 Ranuccio Farnese (the Elder), one of the most
celebrated condottieri (mercenary soldiers) of his time, had been
made a Roman senator by Pope Martin V. Ranuccio's son Pier Luigi,
by marriage with the Gaetani heiress, solidified the Farnese position
in the Roman nobility. In 1489, Pier Luigi's daughter Giulia la Bella
[1475 – 23 Mar 1524] married Orsino Orsini [1471 – 31
Jul 1500], a relative of the Spanish cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (Borja),
and became a favorite {a euphemism} at the papal court. Her brother
Bartolommeo became lord of Montalto; her other brother, Alessandro,
was destined for the church. Sensitive
and talented, Alessandro Farnese was entrusted to the Humanist Pomponio
Leto for his early education and then joined the Medici circle in
Florence under Lorenzo the Magnificent [01 Jan 1449 – 09 Apr
1492]. There he was associated with Giovanni de' Medici (the future
Pope
Leo X) and attended the University of Pisa.
Because of an obscure family quarrel, Alessandro's early sojourn in
Rome was interrupted by a short prison term under Pope Innocent VIII.
But his career was assured when Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia became his
patron. On Rodrigo's election to the papacy (taking the name Alexander
VI), he made Alessandro treasurer of the Roman Church and a year
later, on 20 September 1493, made him a cardinal deacon. Gossip traced
Alessandro's rapid preferment to the intimacy between his sister Giulia
and the Borgia pope, and Alessandro was referred to as the “petticoat
cardinal.”
Although Alessandro Farnese was appointed bishop successively of Montefiascone
(1499) and of Parma (28 Mar 1509), he did not become an ordained priest
until June 1519 and he was ordained a bishop on 02 July 1519 after
being appointed bishop of Frascati (15 Jun 1519). Meanwhile, he conducted
himself like a Renaissance nobleman. Of wide artistic tastes and philosophic
interests, he increased his revenues with multiple benefices.He traveled
on diplomatic missions, enjoyed the hunt, and delighted in majestic
religious and secular ceremonies. Favored also by Pope Leo X, he used
his wealth to enhance his family position and constructed the famous
Palazzo Farnese, on the Via Giulia in Rome. Moreover, despite his
unfeigned personal piety, the Farnese cardinal kept a well born Roman
mistress by whom he fathered four children, Pier Luigi Farnese [19
Nov 1503 – 10 September 1547], Paolo, Ranuccio, and Costanza.
Later, as Pope Paul III, he provoked serious charges of nepotism by
using his papal influence to further the interests of his children
and their families, going so far in one celebrated incident as to
appoint on 18 December 1534 two of his grandchildren, still in their
teens, to the cardinalate, one of them being Alessandro Farnese II
[07 Oct 1520 – 02 Mar 1589]. Another instance of nepotism would
by represented by Sebastiano
Ricci in the painting Paul III Appointing His Son
Pier Luigi to Duke of Piacenza and Parma (1687) [click
image, above right, to enlarge to 656x950pix, 141kb).
On 1509 Pope Julius II conferred on Cardinal Alessandro Farnese the
bishopric of Parma. Selecting Bartolomeo Giudiccioni as his vicar
general, the Cardinal took seriously the obligation of governing the
diocese and decided to change his private way of life. In May 1512
he served as Julius' legate for the Fifth Lateran Council in Rome;
then, having discontinued his liaison with his mistress in 1513, he
put the reform decrees of that council into effect in Parma with a
visitation in 1516 and, three years later, with a synod. In June 1519
he was ordained a priest and said his first mass on Christmas of that
year. Thereafter, his private life was without reproach, and the Cardinal
was identified with the reform party in the Roman Curia. After the
diocese of Frascati, he was appointed successively as the bishop of
Palestrina (09 Dec 1523), Sabina (29 Dec 1523), Porto (20 May 1524),
and Ostia (15 Jun 1524). The Farnese
cardinal's diplomatic skills made him an invaluable aid to the five
pontiffs in whose election he participated, Pius III, Julius II, Leo
X, Adrian VI, and Clement
VII, before he himself was elected Pope on 13 October 1534. At
the age of 67, Pope Paul III, though apparently frail, was a man of
great charm and determination. He was described in diplomatic reports
as shrewd and affable, deliberately slow of speech yet loquacious,
expressing himself in an elegant Italian or Latin with learned allusions,
and scrupulously refraining from tying himself down to a definite
“yes” or “no” until the final settlement of
an issue, but then able to act with swift, uncompromising dispatch.
Of medium height, spare of figure,
with an aquiline nose, ruddy complexion, and aristocratic hands. In
1543 Titian
painted Portrait of Pope Paul III at age
75 in the full vigor of his pontificate [to enlarge to 672x533pix,
21kb, click image at top of article]. The ravages of age on the
pontiff, but also the depth of intelligence and strength that accompanied
him to his last breath at 82, are seen in two later Titian portraits:
Pope Paul III with his Nephews Alessandro and Ottavio
Farnese (1546, 200x127cm) [click image, lower right,
to enlarge to 996x832pix, 164kb; see also enlarged detail
(1002x810pix, 101kb) of the Pope.) and a 1548 Portrait
of Pope Paul III [click image at left, to enlarge to
800x670pix, 89kb] The pontiff
kept himself in good health by frequent excursions in Rome and the
countryside, supervising urban projects and fortifications. He encouraged
agriculture and provided for new food supplies. His coronation was
accompanied bytournaments and pageants, signalling the end of the
austerity imposed by the sack of Rome in 1527. In 1536 he authorized
the revival of the carnival and rearranged the main thoroughfare in
Rome for the visit of the Emperor Charles V, restoring the panoply
of traditional ceremonies for the reception of princes and ambassadors.
His lavish policies brought prosperity to Rome and the Papal States.
Despite charges of paganism levelled against his pontificate for its
secular extravagances (even astrologers were admitted to the papal
court) Pope Paul III was determined to reform the church. Aware, however,
of the setback suffered by Pope Adrian VI's precipitate reform policy
a decade earlier, he proceeded, in the face of great internal opposition,
with a slow but deliberate call for conversion of the Roman clergy
and curia, as well as a reorganization of the papal offices. Immediately
upon his election he announced his intention to hold a council and
summoned the papal ambassadors Girolamo Aleandro and Pietro Paolo
Vergerio from Venice and Vienna, respectively, for consultation about
the dangerous state ofthe church in the north. He then dispatched
Vergerio to Austria and Germany on a two-year sojourn to enlist prelates
and princes in the project of holding a council in Mantua or Turin.
The Protestants for years had been clamouring for such an assembly
on German soil, free of Roman domination. The papacy, however, had
feared the calling of a general council would compromise its authority.
Paul, however, proceeded with preparations for the council even after
it was rejected by Martin Luther and the Protestant leaders.
In a series of consistories, or consultative assemblies, he created
cardinals of proved virtue throughout Europe. He also encouraged the
foundation of new religious orders and congregations, such as the
Theatines, Somaschi, Barnabites, and the Ursuline nuns. Particularly
important was his confirmation of the new Jesuit order, which was
to provide the papacy with one of its principal instruments in promoting
the Counter-Reformation. Pope Paul III's greatest problems were caused
by his relations with Emperor Charles Vand the French king Francis
I, whom he tried to persuade to cease their inveterate wars and turn
their forces against the Ottoman Turks, who menaced the coasts of
Italy as well as the outposts of Christendom in the East. He encouraged
the Emperorto suppress the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League, urged the
French king to eliminate the Huguenots, and employed tortuous diplomatic
skill to avoid siding with either monarch. In 1538 he journeyed to
Nice in an attempt to bring them together. That same year, he excommunicated
the English king Henry VIII, who had declared himself head of the
English Church. (An earlier sentence of excommunication under Clement
VII had been suspended.) Using the military skill of his son Pier
Luigi Farnese and the diplomacy of his grandson Cardinal Alessandro
Farnese, Paul asserted papal control over central Italy, skillfully
avoiding encirclement by both the imperial and French forces.
In May 1536 Pope Paul III published
a bull of convocation for his proposed council to be held in Mantua.
He also authorized a select group of cardinals to draw up a report
on the abuses within the church. Guided by Cardinal Gasparo Contarini,
this group denounced the ordination of poorly prepared priests, the
selection of incompetent bishops, the accumulation of benefices, and
the decadence of the religious orders, preaching, and the care of
souls. The report, however, fell into Protestant hands and was used
by Luther in a violent attack on the Roman Church and the papacy.
Nevertheless, the Pope pursued his plans to hold the council, scheduled
to open on May 23, 1537, at Mantua. With infinite patience, Paul sought
to overcome the opposition of Emperor, kings, prelates, and princes,
proroguing and postponing the council's opening again and again over
the course of nine years, but finally succeeding in having it inaugurated
by his legate, Cardinal Giovanni del Monte, in Trent on 13 December
1545. In deference to the clamoring
of the Protestants, the Emperor insisted that the council confine
itself mainly to dealing with discipline and reform. Nevertheless,
thePope's decision that doctrinal matters be given precedence prevailed,
and, in its early sessions, the Council of Trent hammered out decrees
on the canon of the Scriptures, original sin, justification, and the
sacraments, as well as on reform. Fears of the plague and the menace
of an attack by armed Protestant forces induced the Pope to accept
the council's transfer to Bologna in February 1548. But the Emperor
forbade the Spanish and German prelates to go to Bologna, and the
Pope had to suspend the Council on 17 September 1549. Nevertheless,
this first phase of the Council of Trent had achieved a substantial
step forward, leading to a thorough reform of theChurch's teaching
and discipline. Throughout his
pontificate, Pope Paul III frequently visited trouble spots in the
Papal States and beyond. He was in Civitavecchia in 1535 and 1537;
visited Lucca and Piacenza on his way to Nice in 1538; appeared in
Perugia to pacify the city after his forces broke the power of the
Colonna family in 1540; and in 1543 visited Bologna on his way to
Busseto to meet the Emperor. As
a patron of the arts, Pope Paul III restored the University of Rome,
increased the subsidies and importance of the Vatican Library, and
showed favour to theologians and canonists but did not neglect the
fine arts. He cajoled Michelangelo into finishing the fresco “The
Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel, decorating the Pauline
Chapel, and completing the plans for the construction of the new St.
Peter's Basilica. He used Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and a host
of architects to renew the fortifications of Rome and the Papal States,
continued the constructionof the Sala Regia (Royal Hall) in the Vatican,
and ordered the reconstruction of the buildings on the Capitoline
Hill. In the midst of grave family,
political, and military setbacks, the Pope visited the Quirinal Palace
in Rome in early November 1549 and was taken with a raging fever.
Clear-minded to the end, he received the last sacraments and died
on 10 November 1549, in his 82nd year. On his deathbed he is reported
to have repented of his nepotism.
Whatever the faults of his early career and the political intrigues
of his pontificate, Pope Paul III was remembered by contemporaries
as “good hearted, obliging and supremely intelligent . . . worthy
to be described as magnanimous.” He led the church out of the
decadent splendour of the Renaissance into the austere rejuvenation
of the post-Reformation epoch. The grandiose Tomb
of Paul III (photo 1065x730pix, 191kb) in St. Peter's
by Michelangelo's student Guglielmo
della Porta [1500-1577] befits the place he occupies in the church's
history. Della Porta had sculpted a number of busts Paul III. For
the tomb an antique sarcophagus and other features had been predetermined
by the Pope. The bronze effigy of the Pope was cast and chased by
1553 when della Porta turned to the reclining allegorical figures.
In 1628 the tomb was transferred and modified by Bernini
to become a pendant to his Tomb
of Urban VIII (photo 1021x750pix, 192kb). Della Porta's commanding
Pope is depicted alive and seated on a diagonal in an engaging manner,
a less formal pose then the benediction adopted by Bernini.